The new-gen Mahindra Thar finally made its debut October 2 ahead of its launch. Bookings will open on launch day and prices are expected to vary from Rs 9.5 lakh to Rs 13 lakh. Whether you’re planning to buy the new Thar or just being curious about its new features, these detailed pictures will certainly help you. Let’s start with those outside.
The new Thar design is quite evolutionary in the sense that it still retains the previous-gen SUV silhouette. However, thanks to the vertical seven-slat grille that harks back to the roots of the SUV it now looks a lot more imposing. The protruding bumper houses round fog lamps and also features a purpose-constructed skid plate. The grille is flanked by round halogen headlamps complemented by daytime running LED lamps that find a spot on the trapezoidal fenders.
The wheel well is filled by all-weather tyres of 255/65 R18 which wrap rims of silver alloy. Lower-spected variants do with steel wheels of 16 inches. A bunch of open hinges tend to be old school on the doors and bonnet along with Thar insignia on the outside rearview mirror and front quarter panel which give so much substance to the outside.
The side steps are a necessary add-on as the ground clearance of the Thar now stands at 226 mm, well 26 mm higher than the old one. This also has a 650 mm range for water wading. As a standard fitment for the Thar, the 4×4 badging on the rear quarter panel will be present on all variants just like the old one.
Bits like the US-styled fender marker lights, and the left fender antenna add character to the current Thar. The two-door Mahindra Thar will have various roof options: a fixed soft top, a soft-top convertible and a hard top.
Move back and the charm of the old school continues with the spare tyre mounted on the tailgate and rectangular tail lamps that receive LED lighting. The tailgate opens laterally as you would expect. The fascinating thing here is that in the hard top edition the rear windscreen flips up like a door, which allows you quick access to the car.
The new Thar’s doors feature bottle holders but their party trick is that for a more hands-on off-road experience they can be taken off. Hop inside, and a blacked-out dashboard with bits of silver finishing around the central console and steering wheel will welcome you.
There are also surroundings of piano black and faux carbon fibre for the AC vents. The dashboard maintains the passenger’s grab handle but also receives a stylish tag that indicates the serial number of the frame. The instrument cluster features an LCD screen flanked by analog dials for the tachometer and speedometer for the multi-information display.
For the sake of modernity a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment was integrated with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It also relays a range of information such as a compass, pneumatic pressure monitoring system, G-meter, pitch, wheel angle, yaw and more that comes in handy when off-road. It will also get connectivity to smartphones and smartwatches through the Blue Sense app from Mahindra.
Underneath the monitor are air conditioning and defogging devices. The aircraft-like toggle switches for the hazard indicator, Airbag switch, and other features are further down. Mahindra says the current Thar ‘s interior is IP54 dust tolerant and water resistant. Yeah, there’s no reason to think about making things a bit muddy when off-roading. The Thar gets underneath the two USB outlets, an AUX-in and a 12V charging jack, for your handset power.
Standard fitments are the 6-speed manual transmission gear and the 4×4 shift-on-fly manual transfer case with crawl ratio selector. Needless to say, the two sticks were integrated ergonomically into the space. Since the doors are reversible, the power window switches were mounted between the benches, just as the roof panels do. Don’t miss speakers mounted on the roof.
The front seats have the marking ‘Thar’ on the backrest. The driver gets the height and the lumbar adjustment function, which is a first for the Thar. Front passenger seat gets the one-touch tip and slide mechanism to allow egress and ingress for the second row.
In the four-seater version the second row receives three-point seat belts for both passengers. In the base variant, there’ll also be a six-seater version with the usual jump row seats in the back.
Leave a Reply